Damn'd Fool
by Aria Aurora
Summary: Bruce always thought the one of the hardest thing he could do was to tell Dick that Jason was dead. That later changed to telling Tim that Stephanie had died, and then that changed into telling his family that Damian was dead. Now he had to tell the love of his life that Clark was dead.


Bruce always thought the one of the hardest thing he could do was to tell Dick that Jason was dead. That later changed to telling Tim that Stephanie had died, and then that changed into telling his family that Damian was killed by his mother. So he understood more than anyone when Artemis went up to the West's family and had to tell them that their son, Wally West was gone. He would have volunteered to do it himself, after all it's one thing knowing that you're holding your sons battered body in his arms, and it's another to admit to other people that he's dead but he knew that it would have been better coming from Artemis, just like it would be better if he had told Tim that Stephanie was gone then being anyone else.

So maybe that's why he was here, dressed as Bruce Wayne in a casual black suit with sun glasses to hide his red stricken eyes due to not sleeping for days. Alfred had refused to give him any more coffee not wanting to take part of Bruce's self-destruction route, so Bruce made coffee by himself, for once in his life. He rode from Gotham City to Metropolis early in the morning, around six a.m by himself. No Alfred, no Diana, no Dick or Tim, nobody but himself. He figured it would be best coming from him; he just had to wonder who would he go to first?

Should he go see his human parents, shouldn't't they be the first to know, after all they did raise him, and while he's there Kara who is his cousin but he treats her like his sister. Should he see Conner? Clark had started to accept Conner and acted like his father figure. Maybe he should just go to the Fortress of Solitude and tell Krypto, that way he wouldn't't have to handle human interaction; he was never good with emotions, and have a plethora of children who suffered through murder, and loss had not made him any better.

Closing his eyes and sighing, he knew exactly who to go to first. He didn't't like it, but it would be better coming from him, a lot better from him then from anyone else. He would go see Lois Lane the Daily Planet reporter, and love interest of Superman.

That is where he is now. Dressed in a suit, holding bouquet of flowers, with thick, black sun glasses and a heart full of dread. He rang the door bell, outside of Lois Lanes house. He heard a string of curses, glass being broken, the thumping of an angry woman being woken up before the sun was up, yelling that nobody allows her to get sleep, and she hasn't gotten a good eight hour sleep when she became a reporter and that only became screwed up when her and Superman started dating, she had to cherish every precious moment with him because he was off fighting something, or saving some planet. She was lucky to get a day to spend with him.

"Look Clark if you're back already you could at least have the decency to—Oh."

Lois slammed the door open expecting to see Clark in his casual blue suit and glasses, holding a box of chocolates because she hates flowers and doesn't have time to take care of him. Instead she was met up with his friend, and billionaire Bruce Wayne dressed in a black suit and holding flowers, Lois hates flowers. She can't stand the smell of flowers, the maintenance of flowers, the very fact that they attract bugs flowers, that's why Clark never got her flowers, because she would just hand it back to him and roll her eyes.

"What are you doing here?" Lois was already in a snippy mood when Clark announced that he had to leave to save Apokolips from Brainiac during the week of their anniversary so she was a bit snappy with Bruce when she expected Clark to arrive at her door step at the crack of dawn. Not Bruce Wayne. Not Batman. But Clark Kent. Superman. The man she wanted to marry and spend the rest of her life with, not hid brooding, dark best friend. Especially holding a bouquet of flowers.

Bruce didn't say anything, his eyes fell heavy from beneath the glasses and in the free hand he tighten his fingers into a fist. His body slowly started shaking, his feet couldn't stay still and he dropped the flowers, letting them thump onto the floor and spread around. Lois took a step forward, reaching out to his sun glasses and gently peeling them off, seeing his distress. She was shocked when Bruce just let her take them off, he was very up tight about his personal space but was even more shocked when his eyes was squeezed tight.

"Bruce?"

Lois might not be as powerful as Wonder Woman, or as smart as Batman, or as indestructible as Superman but she was no idiot herself. She had figured out who Batman was, she had figured out who Superman was, and for his friend to arrive at her door step holding flowers, looking like he was about to have a break down right after Clark had told her he would be gone she clicked the pieces together. Her stance was frozen, her eyes were wide, and her mouth dropped as she stepped backwards away from Bruce. Her hands flew over her mouth as tears formed circles in her eyes.

"N-no."

Her shoulders wrecked with sobs, Bruce turned away trying to keep his own emotions in check. Only to be met by a slap from Lois.

"You were suppose to protect him!" Lois hissed as tears streamed down her face. "You promised me you would! You told me that he would be safe, that he's the most powerful one out of all of you, out of anybody and here you are standing in front of me about to tell me that—"

"I'm sorry."

Bruce reached out to her, pulling her into his arms. Letting her hit his chest as much as she wanted, and for her to cry as much as she needed to. He didn't stop her fists, or cringe at her words, or held her from hitting him. He could take it, it didn't bother him. He lost a friend, and failed to keep a promise, a couple of bruises would not affect him as much as the weight of his failure.

Finally Lois had calmed down, her tears turning into sniffles and she stopped her punching, separating herself from Bruce's arms. She looked up at him through her teary eyes. "..Why..why did you come here?"

"I..somebody needed to tell you."

"But why you?" Lois demanded.

"..Who else would you like to hear it from? The news?"

"Point taken..do you want to come in?"

"…I…" Bruce wondered if he should. What would Clark think? If he was alive. "Alright."

Lois walked back into her house, letting Bruce follow her in. He shut the door behind him, glancing at the crushed up flowers on her welcome mat before closing the door. He walked into her living room, seeing her take out a couple of tissues.

"Does anybody else know?" She asked him.

"Only the League that was with him, and you, we're not sure how..how we should tell the world."

"You mean Kara doesn't even know? Or his parents?" Lois was shocked. She was sure that his family would be the first to know, not her.

Bruce was silent, he just looked down to his hands. "..The world still needs Superman."

Lois laughed, "So what are you going to do? Dress up as him? Or hold auditions on who can be him? Don't you think he deserves more respect than that! You, you League members lost Superman, but the people down here..we..I lost Clark Kent. A person before he became Superman." Lois went from grieving to anger.

"The world may be in danger if everybody knew that Superman was dead , I think you can understand that."

"I don't think you understand _ !_" Lois threw her tissue box at him, "Did you honestly see him as nothing more than a solider? Was that all he was to you? To the League? Well to me he was my boyfriend, he was my husband to be and now I can never be with him because of his stupidity! If you're here to use me as some sort of fucking candidate on who can be the next Superman than go find somebody else, and get the fuck out."

Bruce let the box hit him, it was tiny and flimsy, much like the cape he was holding nights away. He got up, taking out the very same Red cape all folded nice and neatly by Alfred and setting it on the coffee table before making his way out.

"I'm truly sorry for your loss Lois..If anything..his last words was to tell you that he loves you."

"Just get out; and don't bother telling the Kents, I'll do that myself."

"Very well."

Lois slumped into her couch hearing the door shut. She looked at the red cape with his S emblem, picking it up she felt the material through her fingers. She remembered the first time he had flown her, the first time he rescued her, the first time he kissed her, and the first time she had discovered his secret identity, and the last time she saw him. She threw the cape at the wall, getting up to pour herself a glass of whiskey she looked at the cape laying on the floor. Crumbled and disorted, she scoffed and walked to her bathroom.

She never did like red.

Or flowers.

Or chocolates.

"You're a damn fool Kent."


End file.
